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The three Baltic presidents delivered a powerful punch during the U.N. General Assembly debate at U.N. headquarters in New York City, and The Baltic Times was there for the knockout. Although 192 member states were invited to participate in this annual event, 111heads of state actually spoke in the General Assembly Hall, according to a spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly, former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann.

To set the record straight on the hot-button Georgia issue, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili called for an exhaustive, independent investigation of the origins and causes of the war, and momentum for the study is building. Besides the Baltic states, countries including Ukraine, Hungary, Austria, Moldova, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, Poland and the United States stepped up to the plate by mentioning Georgia in their own statements. Whether out of solidarity or the conviction that it is the right thing to do, Georgia is winning the media war and building more and more support among the delegates.

However, Estonia’s statement in the debate covered a range of issues, including cyber-attacks, the war between Georgia and Russia, the Millennium Development Goals, natural disasters and humanitarian assistance. “When it comes to cyber-attacks and cyber-warfare, it’s becoming more difficult to determine and apprehend the perpetrators,” Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said.
 No doubt, based on his statement in the U.N. General Assembly last year, “cyber-attacks are an international problem, indeed, a form of aggression that no nation is able to deal with on its own.” He added that “cyber-attacks can be launched against any nation and from any continent.” What’s the solution? Estonia, highly experienced in dealing with cyber-security, is ready to do what it can to thwart this new form of criminal warfare, but it will take more than that.

In fact, Ilves feels that all U.N. member states have to take the issue more seriously. At the same time, he said:  “administering and policing the Internet will require extensive cooperation and the standardization of relevant international regulations.”
 Latvian President Valdis Zatlers emphasized the need to solve “frozen conflicts” — those
that can re-emerge — and took a strong stand on Kosovo.  As he said, “Strong involvement of the U. N., the EU and the United States has brought a solution to a protracted conflict in the Balkans. Now we need to focus our efforts on the development of Kosovo’s statehood, political stability, economic prosperity, security and good relations with its neighbors.”

Concerning climate change, although Latvia supports the broader use of renewable energy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, he expressed a need for a change in energy consumption and supported the EU initiative on the United Nations’ call to action on the Millennium Development Goals.
 Perhaps one of the most powerful statements made in the assembly came from Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus in his remarks on the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a 1939 non-aggression treaty between the Soviet Union with Nazi Germany. “Seventeen years ago, after 50 years of the Soviet occupation, when my country regained independence and joined the United Nations, we were told that never again will Molotov and Ribbentrop dare to decide the future of other nations.”

In addition, he reminded member states that next year there will be a commemoration of the 70th anniversary of what he called the “shameful Molotov-Ribbentrop secret protocols.” But, as he explained, “Lithuania and other nations of the former Soviet Union still have to fight against the revisionism seeping down from the Kremlin towers, blatant claims that there was no occupation of the Baltic States andaa that there was no Holodomor in Ukraine where millions of people were starved to death by a ruthless dictator.”  Adamkus also acknowledged in his speech that the Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews was being commemorated in his country.

Genocide was also on the mind of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in the general debate on Sept. 24. In explaining the genocide that took place in his own country, he said, “Terror in hunger in Ukraine had a task-oriented character which was accompanied by total elimination of national elite, public leadership, and priesthood. The goal was to master the nation of many millions because according to the regime there were too many people to disperse to Siberia.” The president also encouraged member states to jointly commemorate each national tragedy and not to tolerate new attempts to create a saintly aureole around Stalin and his regime.

But what did the European Union have to say in the general debate? As French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking on behalf of the European Union summed it up: “Europe does not want war. It does not want a war of civilizations. It does not want a cold war. Europe wants peace, and peace is always possible when one truly wants it.”
 There was a sense of urgency about President Sarkozy’s message. His call to action stressed that “we have a duty to act, not to endure. And we can wait no longer.”

However, when it comes to Russia, Sarkozy said he wants to be Russia’s partner and asked, “Why not build a common economic space which would unite Russia and Europe?” At the same time, he said, “Europe is also telling Russia with the same sincerity that it cannot compromise on the principle of states’ sovereignty and independence, their territorial integrity, or respect for international law.” In fact, according to President Sarkozy, Europe’s message to all states is that it cannot accept the use of force to settle a dispute.” Are you listening, world?

 “The view from the UN” is a Baltic Times feature column written by Ann Charles, a New York-based journalist who has been a U.N. correspondent since 1977. Her articles have appeared in the worldwide Lithuanian daily Draugas, Travel World News, American Baltic News and The Baltic Times.

By Ann Charles